2025 Bodegas Olivares, Rosado, Jumilla DOP, Spain.
The 2025 Rosado, crafted from mainly estate grown high elevation Garnacha, is beautifully fresh and mineral toned with ultra dry crispness and a fine delicate light bodied palate of sour cherry, a whisper of strawberry, ruby grapefruit, wet stone, wild sage, rosewater and very faint watermelon. Made to be Rosé, this wine is incredibly pale and quenches your thirst, it is not a fruity style, staying brisk and mouthwatering throughout, always encouraging another sip. Olivares, imported by Rare Wine Co, offers great value, especially for their deeply flavored Monastrell red, which remains, even with stupid tariffs, one of Spain’s best bargains. Jumilla, still an under the radar region, is thought to be one of likely original homes of the Mourvèdre grape, is located on the warm Mediterranean side of Spain. The Jumilla DOP is situated in the north east of the Region of Murcia, close to the towns of Cieza and Yecla, set Northeast of Alicante in the Sierra del Buey mountain range, protecting it from the Southern heat. These same sandy soils that give Bodegas Olivares’ wines their perfumed aromatics were also, as the winery notes, anathema to the Phylloxera root louse that devastated all but a handful of Europe’s vineyards in the late 1880s and allows for these ungifted vines to thrive. For this Garnacha Rosado, or Grenache Rosé, the grapes were direct pressed and cool fermented in stainless steel to preserve freshness and aromatic detail, which is nicely welcome here.
Paco Selva’s Bodegas Olivares, founded in 1930, first came to international attention via their Dulce, a sweet fortified red wine made with Jmmilla’s most prized varietal, Monastrell, or Mourvèdre as it is known in France and most of the new world, but has since moved its focus to still dry wines with much success. Selva says that his Olivares’ estate vineyard, Finca Hoya de Santa Ana, is located in Jumilla’s northwestern quadrant, whose unique characteristics distinguish it from the rest of the appellation. For example, he notes that this special zone lies at over 800 meters elevation, where nights cool down quickly, resulting in wines with astounding freshness and equilibrium. The other great benefit of Jumilla, is the ungrafted vines, of which this may be the world’s largest individual holding, make possible because of the sandy soils here, which have protected these treasured vines from Phylloxera. In 2000, Selva added a Bandol inspired Monatrell red to his lineup here at Bodegas Olivares, bringing serious wine lovers to the region for one of Europe’s best values, and then later added this Garnacha based Rosado, adding some cool refreshment to their collection. There’s no pretense here with these Bodegas Olivares wines, but the recent label upgrade and Stelvin (screw cap) closure really help customers get a sense of quality and style on offer in bottle now, especially here with the Rosé, making for a really nice package. Again this is easily quaffable stuff, nothing to seriously think about, but super satisfying in the glass on a hot day.
($16 Est.) 88 Points, grapelive